HAVING ‘professional’ Jan Kostal back for another season has given Swindon Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell a big boost early on in his summer recruitment.

Nell secured the signature of the Czech national with minimal effort from either party as the 27-year-old continues to form his roster for an assault on the National League Division One South next term.

And there was also little hesitation in handing Kostal the skipper’s armband for another season, with Nell admitting that Kostal provides the perfect role model for the rest of his side.

“The person he is and the habits he has and how hard he works, it was an easy decision to make,” he explained.

“We would never, ever replace someone like Janny (Jan Kostal) and we’re just delighted that he is back and he is a very big part of our team.

“In the last two years, his goals have come down a little bit but he still is valuable and he is still getting the recognition in the dressing room.

“He has been here four years and Janny has changed the way that everyone thought about things at this club.

“He was the first import who was as professional as he was and he did change an awful lot of things when he came here.

“Not through him doing anything, just through the way he acted and he was a benchmark for the rest of the imports.

“He sets a high standard for everyone else and he treats playing for the Wildcats, the same as he treated playing for his hometown team in one of the best leagues in the world and was earning an awful lot more money.

“He still treats it the same and he is still as professional and it is a great example to set.”

With just two imports allowed in the roster in the National League, a drop from five in the English Premier League last season, but despite having to make his foreign selections carefully, it never entered Nell’s head when it came to securing Kostal.

“I knew Janny straight away, that I was going to have him,” he added.

“It was just waiting for everything to be settled but I knew that I would want to have Janny with us and whatever league we are in, whether it’s a five-import league, a three-import league or a two-import league.”